HD#1
11-06-2004, 05:18 PM
WAY TO GO "MURPH"
Poll judge wrong in telling voter to remove shirt
By S.A. KALINICH Staff Writer
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Francis Dennis Murphy was in the midst of voting at Yorktown Elementary School Tuesday when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Sir, you either have to remove your shirt, cover it or leave the polling place," Murphy recounted an election judge telling him.
It was Murphy's wardrobe choice that drew the rebuke.
A 30-year veteran of the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, Murphy had !!!!ed a T-shirt imprinted with the phrase "Firefighters for Bush" before going to the polls.
Family members wore similar campaign gear, he said.
Murphy's 27-year-old son Ed was decked out in a hat and other Bush regalia. He was ordered to leave the polls after he voted but was waiting for his wife to finish. Murphy said his wife was directed to remove a Bush campaign button.
When the judge interrupted his vote, Murphy admitted he was rattled.
"He just looked at me and stayed right there with me while I finished voting," Murphy said, adding that he didn't know whether the judge could see his ballot screen.
"I honestly thought I had done something wrong," he said. "I was humiliated thinking I had tainted the (voting) process."
He even left the poll before his family finished voting.
"They were wondering where I was," he said.
When he got home, he leaped onto the information highway to see what he had done wrong. What he found confirmed that the judge was wrong. Chief election judge Joan Gallagher said Wednesday morning that she apologized to Murphy later in the day.
"It (the campaign gear ban) is only applicable to us and he (the election judge) was mistaken," she said. "We apologized to him (Murphy) profusely, but by that time he was too angry."
Murphy said he finished voting, but may have skipped a couple of ballot questions because of the interruption. That disturbs Murphy.
But what irritates him more was what he was told when he went back to the poll around 2 p.m. after doing some research of his own. He called the election board, but couldn't get through. So he called Rep. Steny Hoyer's office and the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Both told him his T-shirt was not illegal.
"I wanted Mrs. Gallagher to understand that the information was wrong," Murphy said.
That's when both Gallagher and the judge whom Murphy identified as Warren Kaufmann told him they were following orders from state Del. Mary Conroy, D-Bowie, Murphy said.
"The two of them were like two school kids who got caught lying by the teacher," said Murphy, who served in Vietnam.
"She (Conroy) has to realize that a veteran is not going to cough up the right to vote at a tap on the shoulder," Murphy said.
Conroy, who was campaigning outside Yorktown before she went in to vote, admitted Wednesday morning that she spoke to Murphy's son about his partisan gear.
"When I went in to vote, there was this young man sitting there with a Bush hat and Bush shirt and Bush buttons," Conroy said. "And I said 'you're not allowed to wear that in here.' "
When the younger Murphy refused, his father said, Conroy instructed Kaufmann to admonish him.
"In my opinion, he was in violation," Conroy said. "Maybe I was wrong."
Conroy insisted she never spoke to Kaufmann or saw the elder Murphy in his T-shirt.
"No I did not (speak to him)," Conroy said. "No one in a T-shirt ever spoke to me; I didn't even see that person."
Gallagher said she did not see the incident.
"We were very busy; we had 518 voters in the morning," she said.
Gallagher said it was her belief that Kaufmann acted at the direction of Conroy. When asked if she had any direct communication with Conroy, Gallagher demurred.
"I think I'm going to have to ask the board before I answer that," she said Wednesday morning. A few minutes later, she called the Blade-News back to say that no one was answering at the election board, so she had to refrain from responding.
Wednesday morning, the Prince George's County Courthouse was ablaze with a three-alarm fire. Workers were evacuated from the original courthouse, which has been under renovation. At press time, firefighters were battling high winds that continued to whip up the flames. The county election board is not housed at the courthouse but in the County Administration Building. However, when the Blade-News tried to call the board Wednesday morning, no one answered repeated calls. It is unclear whether the situation at the courthouse may have affected the board's availability.
According to Maryland election law, electioneering is prohibited within 100 feet of the exit or entrance to a poll.
"No electioneering means that no canvassing, electioneering, campaigning, or posting of any campaign material is permitted within the zone," the law states. " 'Posting of any campaign material' is broadly interpreted to mean the wearing of any article of clothing, hats, stickers or button that indicates support or opposition to any candidate, question or political party."
Assistant Attorney General Judith Armold said the ban on partisan gear only applies to someone who is actively attempting to sway voters.
"Voters are allowed to wear (T-shirts) as long as he's not hanging around the voting area engaging people," Armold said.
Gallagher said she realized that the T-shirt was OK when Murphy returned to the poll Tuesday afternoon.
"It was not done with any malicious intent."
She also defended Kaufmann, who could not be reached for comment.
"This is only his second time (as an election judge)," she said. "He's very conscientious; he thought he was doing the right thing."
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skalinich@bladenews.com
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Published 11/04/04, Copyright © 2004 The Bowie Blade
Poll judge wrong in telling voter to remove shirt
By S.A. KALINICH Staff Writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Francis Dennis Murphy was in the midst of voting at Yorktown Elementary School Tuesday when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Sir, you either have to remove your shirt, cover it or leave the polling place," Murphy recounted an election judge telling him.
It was Murphy's wardrobe choice that drew the rebuke.
A 30-year veteran of the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, Murphy had !!!!ed a T-shirt imprinted with the phrase "Firefighters for Bush" before going to the polls.
Family members wore similar campaign gear, he said.
Murphy's 27-year-old son Ed was decked out in a hat and other Bush regalia. He was ordered to leave the polls after he voted but was waiting for his wife to finish. Murphy said his wife was directed to remove a Bush campaign button.
When the judge interrupted his vote, Murphy admitted he was rattled.
"He just looked at me and stayed right there with me while I finished voting," Murphy said, adding that he didn't know whether the judge could see his ballot screen.
"I honestly thought I had done something wrong," he said. "I was humiliated thinking I had tainted the (voting) process."
He even left the poll before his family finished voting.
"They were wondering where I was," he said.
When he got home, he leaped onto the information highway to see what he had done wrong. What he found confirmed that the judge was wrong. Chief election judge Joan Gallagher said Wednesday morning that she apologized to Murphy later in the day.
"It (the campaign gear ban) is only applicable to us and he (the election judge) was mistaken," she said. "We apologized to him (Murphy) profusely, but by that time he was too angry."
Murphy said he finished voting, but may have skipped a couple of ballot questions because of the interruption. That disturbs Murphy.
But what irritates him more was what he was told when he went back to the poll around 2 p.m. after doing some research of his own. He called the election board, but couldn't get through. So he called Rep. Steny Hoyer's office and the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Both told him his T-shirt was not illegal.
"I wanted Mrs. Gallagher to understand that the information was wrong," Murphy said.
That's when both Gallagher and the judge whom Murphy identified as Warren Kaufmann told him they were following orders from state Del. Mary Conroy, D-Bowie, Murphy said.
"The two of them were like two school kids who got caught lying by the teacher," said Murphy, who served in Vietnam.
"She (Conroy) has to realize that a veteran is not going to cough up the right to vote at a tap on the shoulder," Murphy said.
Conroy, who was campaigning outside Yorktown before she went in to vote, admitted Wednesday morning that she spoke to Murphy's son about his partisan gear.
"When I went in to vote, there was this young man sitting there with a Bush hat and Bush shirt and Bush buttons," Conroy said. "And I said 'you're not allowed to wear that in here.' "
When the younger Murphy refused, his father said, Conroy instructed Kaufmann to admonish him.
"In my opinion, he was in violation," Conroy said. "Maybe I was wrong."
Conroy insisted she never spoke to Kaufmann or saw the elder Murphy in his T-shirt.
"No I did not (speak to him)," Conroy said. "No one in a T-shirt ever spoke to me; I didn't even see that person."
Gallagher said she did not see the incident.
"We were very busy; we had 518 voters in the morning," she said.
Gallagher said it was her belief that Kaufmann acted at the direction of Conroy. When asked if she had any direct communication with Conroy, Gallagher demurred.
"I think I'm going to have to ask the board before I answer that," she said Wednesday morning. A few minutes later, she called the Blade-News back to say that no one was answering at the election board, so she had to refrain from responding.
Wednesday morning, the Prince George's County Courthouse was ablaze with a three-alarm fire. Workers were evacuated from the original courthouse, which has been under renovation. At press time, firefighters were battling high winds that continued to whip up the flames. The county election board is not housed at the courthouse but in the County Administration Building. However, when the Blade-News tried to call the board Wednesday morning, no one answered repeated calls. It is unclear whether the situation at the courthouse may have affected the board's availability.
According to Maryland election law, electioneering is prohibited within 100 feet of the exit or entrance to a poll.
"No electioneering means that no canvassing, electioneering, campaigning, or posting of any campaign material is permitted within the zone," the law states. " 'Posting of any campaign material' is broadly interpreted to mean the wearing of any article of clothing, hats, stickers or button that indicates support or opposition to any candidate, question or political party."
Assistant Attorney General Judith Armold said the ban on partisan gear only applies to someone who is actively attempting to sway voters.
"Voters are allowed to wear (T-shirts) as long as he's not hanging around the voting area engaging people," Armold said.
Gallagher said she realized that the T-shirt was OK when Murphy returned to the poll Tuesday afternoon.
"It was not done with any malicious intent."
She also defended Kaufmann, who could not be reached for comment.
"This is only his second time (as an election judge)," she said. "He's very conscientious; he thought he was doing the right thing."
---
skalinich@bladenews.com
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Published 11/04/04, Copyright © 2004 The Bowie Blade